


Sweet As Cherry Wine

by shesbreathless



Series: levi gets stabbed au [1]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, levi gets stabbed, that's it really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 20:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17587961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesbreathless/pseuds/shesbreathless
Summary: The last thing he sees are his fingers coming back painted bright red when he touches his side and brushes over where the man stabbed him. Then everything goes pitch black.





	Sweet As Cherry Wine

“If you sigh any harder you’re going to blow the roof away.”

Levi doesn’t answer. The hand he has laying on his stomach moves up and down with his next deep breath, but it feels like it belongs to someone else. His eyes stare unblinking up at the ceiling, like they have done all night.

The fingers of his left hand twitch like they want to reach out for Nico, but Levi feels like if he moves even an inch, the roof might actually crash down on them.

He’s been in this weird mood ever since he woke up at three in the morning with a racing heart and a bad feeling heavy on his stomach. The alarm has already gone off twice, the last time waking up Nico, but Levi doesn’t want to get out of bed.

“Are you awake?” Nico whispers.

Levi nods, and even the small movement feels like the world is shifting off its axis. He dares looking to the side, because Nico and his ‘I-just-woke-up’ face are something worth seeing, even if it feels like the apocalypse is happening.

“I’m not coming to work today,” Levi decides, burrowing lower underneath the covers.

Nico looks like he wants to argue with him, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he just turns his whole body on its side to watch Levi’s profile. He raises one hand and traces Levi’s face from his forehead, along the bridge of his nose, and over his lips.

He switches to his thumb and uses it to tug Levi’s lower lip down. He then leans in and kisses him, moving his hand to hold the side of Levi’s face.

“You said you were coming with me to Link’s birthday thing,” Nico reminds him.

Levi’s heart sinks in his gut lower than it already was. He turns his head to look Nico in the eye, considering how serious he actually is about this.

The thing is, it’s true that he had promised to meet Nico and Link at some restaurant to have lunch together to celebrate Link’s birthday. It had been Link’s request because, according to Nico, he wanted to get to know Levi better. He’s wholesome like that.

“I feel like something bad is going to happen,” he states.

He figures that honesty is the best strategy, because he doesn’t know if he would be able to explain this in any other way. Nico’s expression doesn’t change, but it also doesn’t look like he understands.

“How bad?” he asks.

Levi feels once again like he lucked out on attracting this man’s attention. It’s obvious he has no idea what Levi is going on about, but he’s still playing along.

“Catastrophic,” Levi says quietly.

It’s true, he realises. He’s afraid that something horrible is going to happen today, and he’s not sure it’s going to happen to him, but he’s also not sure staying in bed could avoid it.

“If you don’t want to have lunch with Link, you could just say so,” Nico mumbles, never taking his eyes off Levi’s face.

Levi immediately turns his body to the side, eyes wide. “No, that’s not it, I promise,” he shakes his head, shuffling closer to Nico’s side of the bed.

Nico still doesn’t look convinced, so Levi grabs his hand and wraps it around his own waist. The apocalyptic spell seems to have disappeared, broken by the sound of Nico’s deep and calming voice, so Levi feels safer moving around and speaking loudly.

“I’m coming with you to work, and we’re meeting with Link,” he decides at last, rubbing his nose against Nico’s.

Nico smiles at him, eyes crinkling at the corners, and leans in to kiss Levi properly. They both have morning breath and smell less than fresh, but by now they’re well past the point of caring.

Levi sighs and throws the covers off himself, resigning himself to ignoring the feeling still weighing him down, and facing the day that lies ahead.

-

His pants are halfway down his legs when Nico walks into the locker room, already changed out of his scrubs, wearing a soft looking white sweater and tight black jeans. A couple of girls on the other side of the room start whispering to each other when he enters, and Levi smirks to himself.

“Hey, babe,” he says loudly, walking up to Nico still in his underwear and leaning up on the tips of his toes to kiss him.

Nico sees right through him, because of course he does. He winks to the now blushing in embarrassment girls and twists Levi around by pushing on his shoulders.

“Get some pants on,” he shoves him gently towards the lockers.

Levi sticks his tongue out at him, but hurries to finish getting ready, pulling on his own jeans and sweater. When he’s done, he picks up his bag and hooks his hand around Nico’s waiting arm, walking outside together.

The air is cold enough that Levi doesn’t want to step too far away from Nico’s warm body, so he hugs his arm closer to himself and tries matching his pace to Nico’s. The restaurant Link chose is close enough to the hospital that they will be available if anything happened at work, but hidden enough not to be crowded.

The waiter lets them know that Link is already there, so they thank him and reach him, sitting at a booth tucked under the big window in the far corner of the room.

“Nico! Levi!” Link greets them loudly, attracting the attention of some of the people sitting around them.

“We saw each other less than half an hour ago,” Nico rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling.

Levi looks between them and finds himself out of place for half a second, before Link wraps him up in a big hug and urges them to sit down. Nico moves to the side to let Levi shuffle past him and into the booth to sit next to the window, gently resting a hand on his lower back.

Levi smiles at him and pats him on the thigh under the table. Link watches the exchange with a big smile on his face, and Levi feels more at ease with every second that passes. Link likes to refer to himself as the ‘ortho god’ and he’s intimidating in everything he does, but he’s also Nico’s good friend.

They all order their lunch and chat to each other, conversation flowing freely. Link asks Levi questions and Levi answers them happily, while Nico looks proudly between the both of them.

Levi knew how important this was to Nico, that they get along as actual friends, and he had promised himself that he would try his best, but it’s all going so well that he wonders why he ever worried.

“Careful, hot stuff coming through!” one waiter calls out.

Nico leans in to whisper in Levi’s ear. “Hot stuff is already here.”

Levi blushes and swats his arm, but relents when Nico wraps it around his waist and pulls him closer to quickly kiss the side of his head. Link is too busy stuffing his face with food to notice, so Levi lets himself be hugged for longer than he normally would in public.

Somebody in the near vicinity grumbles loudly enough for Levi to pick up on a few words. He looks up and notices a man staring at their table. His heart sinks when he hears him spit ‘disgusting’ and a few other swear words that are not entirely acceptable for this time and location.

He holds the man’s gaze and grabs Nico’s hand that is now around his shoulders. When nothing happens for a few seconds, he tunes back into the conversation that has picked up between Nico and Link, ignoring the rude man.

They finish eating, even quietly singing happy birthday to Link when the waiter brings over a muffin with one candle stuck in it. Link insists on paying for them, but Nico tries to fight him on it, and Levi lets them.

They’ve just stepped outside when somebody spits on the ground in front of them.

“Disgusting.”

They all look up at the man from earlier, standing on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets and staring at them with an ugly expression on his face.

“Can I help you?” Link asks him, voice calm.

“Yeah, you and those homos can get out of my face,” the man nods in the direction of Nico and Levi.

Levi doesn’t hear what Link says back to him, because there is a sudden ringing in ears, and the feeling from this morning comes back, settling heavy on his stomach and making him take an instinctual step back.

“Let’s just go,” he says out loud.

Link is the first one to turn around and walk away, Nico following him and Levi trailing behind him. He immediately feels like he can breathe easier when he doesn’t have to see the way the man is watching them, hateful and angry.

He sighs in relief when he doesn’t scream anything behind their backs, hopefully already over it. Then he’s not breathing at all, because something is being stabbed into his side.

The force of the hit makes him trip, hands going forward to break the fall. All he feels is his own heart beating in his ears, and under that Nico and Link yelling loudly. His side throbs, and a sharp pain is shooting up from his right wrist, his vision getting blurrier by the second.

The last thing he sees are his fingers coming back painted bright red when he touches his side and brushes over where the man stabbed him. Then everything goes pitch black.

-

Levi’s throat is swollen and every muscle in his body is clenched tight. He tries to move, but he realises somebody is keeping him on his side, one hand on his shoulder and the other firmly holding his head back.

His ears are still ringing, but he can hear people talking in the background. Actually, they’re all screaming. Levi’s head hurts.

“Schmitt, I really need you to stop seizing so I can examine you, alright?” Levi can hear Dr. Shepherd saying.

A wave of panic goes through Levi’s body. He’s seizing? As in, having actual seizures? Fuck, fuck, fuck-

“Dr. Kim, you’re very tall and I’m not, but if you don’t leave now I’m going to throw you out myself.”

Levi tries to open his eyes, but all he can see is white coats and different colours of scrubs, and then a bright light shining directly in his face. He opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a rough cough.

“He’s good, you can roll him away to fix that lung and that wrist.”

Still coughing and still confused, Levi is at least glad that apparently he doesn’t have a life threatening head injury. That is, until he’s coughing so much that he can’t breathe.

-

Dr. Hunt’s booming voice is the first thing he hears when he comes to. “Levi, you need to breathe now, do you hear me?”

Levi’s vision is still fuzzy at the edges, but he sees flashes of blonde and black hair moving above him. He feels somebody squeeze his hand, and he squeezes back, taking what feels like the biggest breath ever.

“That’s it, good,” Owen reassures him.

Levi nods and keeps breathing through the dull pain in his side, before passing out again.

-

“It’s my fault.”

“Your only fault is not breaking a few of his bones when you tackled him.”

Levi recognizes their voices, but he’s too tired to open his eyes. He can feel weight over his legs, like somebody is resting their arms on them, and he figures that Nico and Link are sat at the bottom of the bed. They’re obviously trying to be quiet, but Levi can still hear everything they’re saying.

“I wanted to,” Link mumbles.

“He’s going to prison. That’s good enough,” Nico says.

Link hums, then they’re both silent. Levi sighs, giving up on resisting the pull of sleep.

-

It’s a whole lot quieter when he wakes up next, the regular beeping of the machine monitoring his heartbeat the only noise loud enough for Levi’s tired ears to make out.

It’s cool in the room, the lights dimmed and the covers tucked tight around him, but Levi can see people walking around in the hallway.

His mind is still foggy, but his side is sore enough for him to remember exactly what happened. He still has a hard time taking full breaths, and it gets even harder when the realization that he almost died sinks in fully.

All he can think about is that the feeling he got this morning had been right. He got stabbed on the sidewalk by a crazy man. He feels like crying, or maybe he wants to laugh. All he manages to do is cough.

“Here, drink this,” a hand suddenly shoves a plastic cup near his face.

Levi shakily holds onto the cup and takes a few sips of water. He turns his head to the side and he’s met with Link’s worried eyes looking back at him, scanning his face rapidly.

“I’m so sorry, Levi,” he starts. “I should have just ignored him, instead I tried to be a hero and-“

Levi stops him by grabbing and squeezing his forearm. His throat feels scratchy and he kind of just wants to go back to sleep, but he can’t have Link think any of this was his fault, or that Levi is mad at him for any reason.

“Thank you,” he whispers, and he means it. It’s ‘thank you’ for caring, ‘thank you’ for trying, ‘thank you’ for staying.

Link smiles at him and doesn’t add anything. He squeezes Levi’s hand and moves it so that he can take the cup with the water in it and drink some more. His eyes flit around the room, both of them silent, but it’s not uncomfortable.

Then there’s the sound of heavy footsteps in the hallway, and Nico is swinging around the corner and into the room, breathing heavily. Link and Levi stare at him while Nico stares back at them.

“Hi,” Levi waves with his free hand.

Nico reaches the bed with just two long strides, immediately enveloping Levi in the biggest hug he can while he’s still basically tied to the bed. Levi can’t hug him back, but he buries his face in Nico’s shoulder and breathes him in.

“You stink,” Levi says as quietly as he can, but it must not be that quiet, because both Nico and Link start laughing loudly.

They keep laughing even when Nico lets Levi go and sits down on the bed next to him, and Levi joins them. There is nothing funny about the current situation, but Levi can feel the stress leave his body with every second that passes.

When they finally calm down, Nico’s eyes are lined with unshed tears, and he wipes them away with the back of the hand that isn’t hooked behind Levi’s neck. Link looks at the both of them for a few more minutes, then he pats Levi on the arm and stands up.

“I’ll see you two later,” he smiles at them and leaves, closing the door behind him.

Levi tugs on Nico’s arm until Nico takes the hint and leans down to kiss him. It feels like taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in hours, and Levi smiles into the kiss.

His head still feels like it has cotton stuffed in it, and he will have to fully realise that he actually got stabbed sometime in the near future, but right now all he wants is to have Nico wrap himself around him and sleep.

“I told you I felt like something bad was going to happen,” Levi says quietly, combing his fingers through Nico’s hair.

Nico’s face twists into an expression that says he’s going to start crying if Levi keeps talking, so Levi just pulls Nico’s head down into his shoulder and makes enough space to let him lie down next to him. They’re both quiet, the silence settling heavy around them.

After a while, Levi just has to say out loud. “He stabbed me.”

“He did,” Nico nods.

“It punctured my lung.”

“It did.”

“Is my wrist broken?”

“Sprained.”

“And I had a seizure?”

“Two.”

Levi makes a sound in the back of his throat. “Ouch.”

Nico makes a sound back, and then Levi feels wetness hit his neck. He tries to reach out with one hand, but he can’t lift it past his own torso before the tubes he’s tied to hold him back.

“I’m not crying,” Nico whispers, but he keeps sniffling.

“Okay,” Levi nuzzles the side of his head. “But you could, if you wanted to.”

“Okay,” Nico repeats, voice thick.

They’re back to being quiet after that, Nico drying the few tears that spill out onto his cheeks, and Levi just focuses on staying calm for the both of them. His eyes slip shut, and before he can stop himself he’s falling back asleep.

-

The next time he wakes up his head feels clear enough for Levi to attempt staying awake for more than ten minutes. He’s definitely alone in the room this time, nobody sitting by his bed, and no nurse walking in and out.

Levi takes the time to seriously think about how he’s feeling. His side hurts, and he can’t move his wrist, but it’s not that bad. He’s kind of hungry, actually.

He looks down at himself to see if he’s in any shape to climb off the bed and maybe go to the bathroom, and he notices he’s wearing a new gown, not one that’s been washed a million times. Perks of working for the hospital, he guesses.

He turns his head to the side and notices his phone sitting on the bedside table. His glasses are also there, along with a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate. Levi smiles at the sight and has to swallow past the sudden lump in his throat.

The thing is, he’d never had to deal with real life, violent homophobes who have a problem with him in particular before. He’d always managed to fly low, stay out of everybody’s business, so he had never been targeted like this.

But he got stabbed. Like, an actual knife was stabbed so deep into his side that it cut his lung. It could have been his heart. He could have died.

He’s finding it a bit hard to breathe, the whole weight of the situation finally dawning on him. He’s not going to cry, but his heart clenches painfully in his chest. He’d never thought this would happen to him.

The door to the room creaks open, Link popping his head in. He’s smiling, but as soon as he sees Levi’s expression, he frowns.

“What’s wrong?” he rushes in.

“I’m okay,” Levi hurries to reassure him.

Link stops fretting over him, and just looks at him. Levi hangs his head and squeezes his eyes shut and takes deep breaths until he doesn’t feel like screaming anymore. He can’t stay in this room, he needs to distract himself.

“You look better,” Link smiles, hands clasped behind his back.

“I feel better,” Levi agrees. “In fact, can you help me off the bed?”

Link immediately looks reluctant, so Levi puts on his best pleading eyes. “I need the bathroom.”

Two minutes after that, Levi has been unhooked from most of the tubes he was tied to, and is happily checking his reflection in the mirror. He actually doesn’t look as bad as he thought. He thinks Nico might have brushed his hair.

He takes care of his business and then gets ready to get back into bed, but before he can do that, he notices doctors and nurses alike running down the hallway. There’s probably a trauma coming in. Levi bites his lower lip and thinks that he’s doing fine after all…

It only takes a second to make the decision to change into the clothes Nico left for him – seriously, he’s going to have to do something special for that man – and sneak out of his room.

When he reaches the E.R. he can see that he was right, as there are people running everywhere, getting beds ready and taking equipment out of their boxes. Levi hides behind the nurses’ station and waits for anything to happen. Surely this will be more interesting than sitting in his room all day.

Everybody is so busy that they don’t notice him, so he has no trouble blending in. He just has to keep an eye out for Nico, who would surely send him back to his room. He’s fine, really.

“Move!” somebody yells, and in the blink of an eye the beds are full, screams and cries resounding in the room.

One patient in particular catches Levi’s eye: body half covered in blood, paramedic following the gurney while reciting a seemingly endless list of injuries, all while only an intern Levi’s never seen tries to juggle everything.

It doesn’t take long for Levi to realize that if nobody steps in, the patient is not going to make it. He looks around for somebody who looks like they’re going to go help the intern, but everybody is busy with a patient of their own.

Levi stands up and jogs over to the bed. The intern looks at him with a look that’s a mix between gratitude and horror, but they don’t have time for that. The patient stops breathing, and one look at the monitor tells Levi that his heart is stopping.

He immediately starts doing chest compressions, putting all of his weight on it, wrist immediately sending sparks of pain behind his eyelids, but he can’t stop. The other intern is frozen in his spot, staring with wide eyes at what’s happening.

“Don’t just stand the- fuck!”

Levi’s wrist makes a sickening sound and his vision goes black at the edges. He’s going to faint, and this is so not the right moment for that.

The previously terrified intern seems to snap back into the moment then, putting his hands over Levi’s and bodily pushing him out of the way.

Levi only has the time to sit down as out of the way as possible before he’s passing out.

-

This time, when he wakes up, the first and only thing he sees is Nico’s face with an angry expression etched into it. He’s staring right at Levi, almost as if he’s been waiting for him to wake up.

“Hi,” Levi tries, voice weak.

Nico passes him a cup of water, angling the straw towards his lips. Levi takes a sip and avoids Nico’s gaze, which is still focused on his face, unmoving. He puts the cup down when Levi turns his head away.

“I’m not going to yell because you had another seizure and I’m not an asshole,” Nico says, tone of voice controlled.

“I appreciate that,” Levi attempts a smile.

Nico does not move. “I’m not going to yell, but I really want to. What the fuck were you thinking, Levi?”

Levi doesn’t answer. He honestly doesn’t know what he would say. All he knows right now is that he’s in pain, and he’s embarrassed, and he wants to disappear. How do these things happen to him?

“Link thinks it’s his fault, again,” Nico continues, and Levi snaps his head up at that.

“It’s not his fault.”

“Oh, I know that,” Nico sits back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “You apparently decided you wanted to basically kill yourself today.”

Levi feels a pang of irritation course through him when he hears that. He tries sitting up straighter in bed, but when he puts weight on his wrist he almost yelps in pain.

“Oh, yeah, you messed that up even more than it already was,” Nico nods in the direction of Levi’s hand. “The patient is okay, though.”

Despite everything, Levi is relieved to hear that. He bites his lower lip and thinks of something to say to get himself out of this situation. There isn’t much, really.

“You can’t do stuff like that,” Nico says, voice softer.

“I know what I can and can’t-“ Levi rolls his eyes, but he gets interrupted.

“No, shut up. I’m not scolding you, but I almost had a heart attack myself when I say you looking half dead in the middle of the room. Try to put yourself in my shoes.”

Levi thinks about it, about how worried he would be, had he been in Nico’s position. He probably had to step away from his own patient to take care of  him. He’s instantly ashamed for even thinking that it was fine. He’s a doctor, he should have known better.

“I’m sorry,” Levi finally whispers.

“I know,” Nico gives in and moves closer, wrapping his arms around Levi’s shoulders.

He squeezes maybe a bit too hard, but Levi figures that he deserves that. He lifts one hand and tries to hug him back as well as he can. Neither of them speaks for a good while, they just hold and breathe each other in.

“If you try that again, I’ll kill you,” Nico threatens, but his voice sounds choked up.

“That would be kind of counterproductive, wouldn’t it?” Levi mumbles, face smushed against Nico’s shoulder.

Nico laughs and leans back just enough to kiss Levi, most likely just to shut him up. Levi will allow him that this time; he probably deserves it. No, he definitely deserves it. They can fight all they want later. For now, he kisses Nico back.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the result of mixing three prompts from anons on Tumblr! One was Levi getting injured, the second was ‘anniversary date’, and the third was ‘a day in the life’ of Schmico. I hope it somehow satisfies those prompts lol
> 
> It was supposed to end like halfway through, but then I started writing again and it turned into four thousand words lmao I'm sorry Levi <3
> 
> If you liked this, let me know with a comment or hit me up on [Tumblr](https://shesbreathless.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
